Toy railroad system.



T. C. SPBLLING.

TOY RAILROAD SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, 1913.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914,

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

T. C. SPELLING.

TOY RAILROAD SYSTEM.

APPLIoATIoN FILED JULY 7, 1913.

3 SHEETS*BHEBT 2.

wif/@mad jpe T. C. SPBLLING.

TOY RAILROAD SYSTEM.

APPLICATION YILTID .TULY7,1913.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

SSEBETS-SHBET 3.

' /60 fram? E STATES FATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS CARL SPELLING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TOY RAILROAD SYSTEM.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS C. SPnLLiNG, acitizen of the' United States, residing at New York, in the county ofNew York and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Toy Railroad Systems, of which the following is aspeciication, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to railroad systems, which, though capable ofother uses, is primarily intended as a toy, capable, in 1nstances, ofassisting in imparting educational matters.

The invention embraces the `proposition of forming on a sectional base,pictorial or topographical formations-though the b ase may be plain, ifso desired,-and securing to the sectional base so as to be carriedthereby,l the correspondingly sectional tracks of a railroad system adated, when the sections are properly assem led, to include the varioussections and pass over the pictorial or topographical formations,including bridges, excavations or tunnelsin the latter, placed either inkeeping with the arbitrary idea of the manufacture of the goods in thecase of a mere toy, or to correctly portray actual conditions where truetopographical representations are employed,V for educational purposes.

The invention further comprehends not only a base of sectionalconstruction, each section having permanently secured thereto andcarrying its portion of the railroad systern, enabling the separation ofthe base for the sake of compactness in storage and shipping, but alsoembraces the formation of interchangeable intermediate sections, so thatwhile a continuous system may be constantly preserved, thetopographical, pic` torial, or other nature of the intermediate sectionsmay be changed to permit optional formations of railroad routes, readilyassembled or changed to suitthe whim or desire of a person using thedevice.

A practical embodiment of the'invention, capablevof satisfactorilyproducing the desired results, hereinabove noted, possesses manycharacteristic details in the construction and -association of parts,and these will' be appreciated from the specific description hereinaftercontained when read in connec- `tion with the accompanying drawings,

pins G to lock the sections together'.

specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mar. 10,1914. Application ledJuly 7, 1913.

Serial No. 777,752.

sake of illustration, the preferred embodiment of the invention isillustrated.

In the drawings r-Figure 1 is a plan View showing in a clearlydiagrammatic manner a foundation or base of sectional character,including one system of railroad thereover;" Fig. 2 is a similar viewshowing the intercliangeability of sections; Fig., 3 is an end view;Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail view; Fig. 5 is an enlargedperspective view showing the manner of securing the tracks and the framework constituting the carway in place; Fig. 6-is a detail sectional viewshowing' the manner of detachably connecting the abutting erids of railstogether, Fig. 7 is a side view of a pair of adjoining rails withassociated parts, and-Figs. 8 and 9 are detail views of the means forpreventing undue swaying of a car and to overcome any tendency of thecar to leave its rails when the rail is converted to an undulatorysurface.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, constituted by the abovestated figures, and wherein like reference characters designatecorresponding parts in the several views, A, B, B', B2 and C, representthe sections of a separable base, which may be formed of any suitablematerial, such as wood, of any, convenient sizeand character, sutlicientto give the strength and durability in keeping with the particular usefor which the device is designed, A and C being the respective endsections, and B, B and B2 the intermediate sections. The sections areformed with -coperating beveled ribs D, and grooves E, to center andinterfit the sections, when assembled, pivoted hooks F at the ends ofthe sections coperating with Of course this interftting andinterlockin'gmay be changed where desired. Obviously the sections may bedisposed endwise instead of sidewise if desired, in which case the endsof the adjoining sections will be secured together as distinguished fromthe sides thereof.

On the upper surface of the base l provide a complete railroad systempreferably permanently secured to be carried by the sections of thebase..

One arrangement of the system is illustrated in Fig, l, wherein it willbe noted that the same assumes a circuitouscourse over each section ofthe base of the outgoing terminal or connecting portions I and J,

. in fact, the end sections so that the system may take an entirelydifferent route than that illustrated in Fig. 1, the alternativeassembling of the sections into a complete base being enabled by theuser possessing himself of any number of intermediate or end sectionsdesired, a common characteristic fea ture, however, being that theterminal or connecting portions I and J of Fig. 1 are maintained at thesame place, as illustrated at L and M in Fig. 2, so that the sectionsmay be readily coupled together, either with part of the system asillustrated in Fig. 1 and part of the system as illustrated in Fig. 2,or the two systems assembled together as independent propositions, asdisclosed in said two figures respectively.

rllhe railroad system may be carried in a plane or in an undulatorymanner across the upper surface of the base, but preferably, asillustrated, I form upon the said upper surface typographicalrepresentations made up of a suitable material, for example, papiermach,molded upon or placed over the sections of the base, as indicated at Nand formed to register, when the sections are assembled, as at O. Thistopographical formation may be arbitrarily formed to represent hills n,valleys n', bridges n2 and tunnels f/z (Fig. 3) in keepin with anydesired fanciful design, or such ormations may be in approximate or trueaccordance with a geographical locality such as a State or a country, toassist inv imparting an accurate knowledge of the topography of suchlocality, and further, representative of an actual railroad systemsituated in such 1ocality.

Upon the topographical formation above described I ymount the railroadsystem now to be particularly pointed out, to wit: The

car or trainway P is formed of closely associated inverted 'V orU-shaped members Q, preferably formed of sheet metal, tied together attheir lower ends by similarly inverted U-shaped ,metallic ties R4 havinstruck-out tongues r adapted to be passed through apertures g in theframe members Q and bent over onto the outer surface of the latter, asshown in Fig.'5. The ties are secured in place by embedding either theWhole or the legs 1f" thereof in the composis tion N, and -at the lowpoints of the system Where the ties rest directly upon the basesections, the ties are further fastened through the medium of staples Spassing over the ties andhaving their ends s driven linto the base, asshown in full lines, Fig. 5,

or passing through and clenched on the bottom of the base sections, asshown in dotted lines s, same ligure.

Thevupper portions of the frame members Q are tied together so as toassist in maintaining said members in proper positions by an invertedUshaped metal member underlying the central vportion of the top orconnecting portion of the members Q, and secured thereto by struck outtongues t passed through openings t in said top portion and bent downupon the upper surface of the latter.

The construction thus far described affords a rigid, inexpensiveconstruction devoid of fastening rivets or separate fastening elements,although, as will be obvious, the parts may be connected together in anysuitable manner found expedient. The member 'I constitutes a guideway aswill later appear.

Upon the ties R, I mount rails U-of sheet metal formation, as shown,from the base flanges u of which are struck-out tongues u arranged inpairs and disposed in opposite relation to fold around and embrace thetiesA R, the latter being suitably notchedas represented at u2 toprevent lateral play of the rails longitudinallyof the ties.

In lieu of the pair of rails to which I here allude, the system maybeprovided with but a single central rail, fastened as stated, toconstitute a mono-railroad system, and the frame members Q may beadditionally connected by side rails V, after the manner disclosed in myUnited States Letters Patent No. 1,058,481, dated April 8, 1913.

- As shown in Fig. 6, the ends of the rails U are slightly cut away attheir web portions to provide overlapping flanges W, perforated for thereception of detachable spring coupling pins X which constitute themeans of connection between the rail terminals or end portions ofadjoining base sections, at the points illustrated at I and J, Fig. v1,and L and M, Fig. 2.

In Fig. 7, the overlapping of the rail webs is clearly shown, as Well asthe engagement of the rails with the cross ties R, and in Fig. 4, I havein a somewhat enlarged detail manner shown the sinuous course oftheframework Q of the system passingA over a base section and including acomposition tunnel a3. In this view it is also Jseen how the trackmembers Q are partially embedded in the composition of thetopographical. formation, and partially directly secured to the base bymeans of the staples S.

Y isa diagran'imatic representation of a car adapted to traverse thecar-way l?, it being understood that a train'may comprise .any practicalnumber of cars drawn by any suitable means, conveniently an electricallypropelled locomotive. v

rIo prevent undue swaying of the cars, and

also to prevent the disengagement of the car Whee s from the rail orrails traversed thereby,-the tendency to do which latter is present in astructure involving an undulatory formation or rail.-I provide guideshoes Z rounded in the direction of travel ot' the same, and preferablyin the nature of rollers, as shown, projecting upwardly from the top ofthe car Y and adapted to extend into the guidewayformed by the invertedU-shaped tie member T (see Fig. 5), and to engage the walls of theguideway when the car tilts. Normally these shoes may be free, that isout of engagement with the guide walls referred to, but preferably therollers are carried by yieldable prongs 8, at the bi furcated end of asupporting standard 9, adapted to be connected to the car. The arms Hare referably of spring metal, adapted to yie d laterally and tomaintain the shoes Z with light pressure against the walls of theguide-way. Under tilting action of the car the arms are forced inwardlyagainst shock absorbing material 10', in the nature of elastic washersor packing, interposed between the inner surface of the arms 8 and theshouldered portions of the shaft l1, having its ends passed laterallythrough the arms 8 (Figs. 8 and 9).

A roller l2 (preferably a rubber tired wheel), to render the sameyieldable and to eliminate noise, is carried by the spring arm 13secured to the standard 9, the function of the roller l2 being to engagethe under surface of the top wall of the tie member T to yieldablymaintain the car in traction engagement with its rails.

While I have herein disclosedone practical embodiment of my invention,it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that the invention iscapable of embodiment in still other forms and arrangements, as may bein keeping with the hereto appended claims.

I claim 1. A railroad system of the character described comprisinportable base sections, and out-going an return rail sections secured toand carried by each-base section adapted when assembled to form acomplete system.

2. A toy railroad systemof the character described comprising portablebase sections bearing topographical formations, and rail sectionssecured Ito and carried thereby adapted when assembled to form acomplete system, in combination with means for se.

curing the base sections together when in their assembled relation. y

43. A/toy railroad system of the character described comprising portablebasesections bearing topographical formations, and'rail sections securedto and carried thereby adapted when assembled to form a complete system,in combination with means for separably securing the base sectionstogether when in their assembled relation.

4t. A railroad system of the character described comprising portablebase sections, and rail sections secured to and carried thereby adaptedwhen assembled to form a complete system, in combination with means forseparably securing the base sections together when in their assembledrelation, consisting of inter-fitting edge portions 'of the basesections and fastening devices to maintain engagement therebetween.

A railroad system of the character described comprising portable basesections, and rail sections secured to and carried thereby adapted whenassembled to form a complete system, in combination with means forseparably securing the base sections together when in their assembled rclation, consisting of detachable fasteners at abutting ends-of thesections.

G; A railroad system of the character described eomprising a pluralityof separate base sections adapted to be assembled in abutting relationto constitute a suitable support, rail sections carried by said base.sections .and permanently attached thereto,

the terminals of the rail sections on each base being adapted toregister with the corre spending terminals of the adjacent sections otlthe base when assembled.

7. A railroad system ofthe character described comprising a plurality ofseparate base sections adapted to be assembled in abutting relation toconstitute a suitable support, rail sections carried by said basesections and permanently attached thereto, the terminals of the railsections on eachbase being adapted to register with the correspondingterniinals'of the adjacent sections of the base when assembled, andmeans for coupling said. rail terminals together.

8. A railroad system of the character described comprising base sectionsadapted to be assembled to constitute a suitable support, outgoing andreturn rail sections carried by said base sections adapted whenassembled to constitute a complete system, in combination with othersimilar sections bearing different arrangements of out-going and returnails to permit interchangeability of the parts, substantially asdescribed.

t). A railroad system ot' the character de-v scribed comprising basesections adapted to be assembled to constitute a suitable support, railsections carried by said base sections adapted when assembled to constitutc a complete system, in combination with other similarsections'bearing different arrange ments of rail sections to permitinterchange,

ability of the parts, the terminal portions of the rail sections on theinterchangeable sections being arranged at corresponding points on saidsections.

10. A railroad system of the character described comprising a sectionalsupport, track sections following a circuitous course over each sectionand adapted to communicate with each other at the abut-ting edges of thesections, substantially as described.

11. A portable railroad system of the character described comprising asectional support comprising separable abutting sections, track sectionsfollowing a circuitous course over each section and adapted to comrangedover the topographical formations` to constitute when the sections areassembled va complete system.

`13. A railroad system of the character described comprising a suitablebase having topographical formations thereon, and car supporting andguiding rails with ties therefor arranged over the topographicalformation -.secured in place by partially embedding the ties in thematerial of said topographical formation.

14. A railroad system of the character described comprising a suitablebase such as wood having plastic topographical formations thereon, andcar supporting and guiding means arranged over the topographicalformation secured in place by fastening devices engaging the same andsaid base.

15. A railroad system of the character described comprising a suitablebase such as wood having plastic topographical formations thereon, andcar supporting and guiding means arranged over the topographicalformation secured in place by embedding portions thereof in the materialof the topographical formation, and fastening other portions thereofdirectly to the base, substantially as described.

16. A railroad system of the character described comprising a-portablesectional supporting bed or base, cross ties carried 'thereby andsecured thereto, a rail on said cross ties, and a car-way formed ofinverted U- shaped vframe members secured at their ends to the ends ofthe cross ties, substantially as described.

17. A railroad scribedlcomprising a supporting bed or base, cross tiessecured together, a rail on said cross ties, and a car-way formed ofinverted U-shaped frame Vmembers secured at their system of thecharacter de pesares ends to the ends of the cross ties, saidcross tiesbeing of similar inverted U-shape and the points of connection betweenthe same and the frame members being at the depending legs or flangesthereof.

18. A railroad system of the character described comprising a supportingbed or base, cross ties secured thereto, a rail on said cross ties, anda car-Way formed of inverted U- shaped frame members secured at theirends to the ends of the cross ties, and means for securing the crossties in place comprising staples passing around the same and engagingthe base.

19. A railroad system of the character described comprising a supportingbed or base, cross ties secured thereto, a rail on said cross ties, anda car-way formed of inverted U- shaped frame 'members secured at theirends to the ends of the cross ties, and means for securing the crossties in place comprising a composition of the base embedding portions ofthe cross ties and .frame members.

Q0. A railroad system of the character described comprising a supportingbed or base, cross ties secured thereto, a rail on said cross ties, anda car-way formed of inverted U- shaped frame members secured at theirends to the ends of the cross ties, in combination with a guideconstituting a tie member for the upper portion of the frame membersadapted to copera'te with a suitable device carried by a car.

21. A railroad system of the character described comprising a pluralityof frame members of approximately inverted U-formation to constitute acar-way therewithin, cross ties connecting the lower ends of the framemembers together, means permanently securing the cross ties to a bed orbase, and a rail within the frame, substantially as described. Y 22. Arailroad system of the character described comprising a `plurality ,offrame members of approximately inverted U-formation to constitute acar-way therewithin, cross ties connecting the lower ends ofthe framemembers together, means' permanently securing the cross ties to a bed orbase, andI a rail within the frame, in combination with a guide adaptedto be engaged by a suitable coperating device on a car. Q3. A railroadsystem of the character described comprising a plurality of framemembers of approximately inverted U-formation to constitute a car-waytherewithin, cross `ties connecting the lower ends of the frame memberstogether, means permanently securing the cross ties to a bed or base,and a rail within the frame, in combination with a guide `adapted to beengaged by a suitablev coperating device on a car, said `guide comyprising a U-shaped member, and said device comprising a projectionadapted to traverse 130 the same.

contact ldevice arranged to 24. A railroad system ofthe character de-vscribed comprising. a plurality of frame members of approximatelyinverted U-formation to constitute a car-way therewithin, cross tiesconnecting thev lower ends of the frame members together, meanspermanently securing the cross ties to a bed or base, and a rail withinthe frame, in combination with a guide adapted to be engagedby asuitable coperating device on a car, said guide comprising a U-shapedmemberfand said device comprising a projection rounded in thedirectiont'of its travel adapted to, traverse the Same.

,described.

26. A railroad system of the "character described comprising a pluralityof frame members associated to constitute a car-way therewithin, crossties connecting the lower ends of` the, frame members together, yand arail withinfthe frame on said cross ties, in

combination with a guide adapted to -be en-A gaged by a suitablecooperating device on the car, said guide comprising an invertedU-shapedfmember, and said device comprising oppositely disposedyieldably-held con` tact devices arranged to engage the side walls ofthe guide member, and a yieldable y engage the top wall of said guidemember.

. 27. A railroad system .of the character described comprisingi laplurality of frame members associated to constitute a car waytherewithin, cross ties connecting the lower ends of the frame memberstogether, and a rail within the frame on said cross ties, in combinationwith a, guide adapted to be en gaged by a suitable coperating device onthe car, said guide comprising an inverted U-shaped member, and saiddevice comprising a yieldable contact device adapted to engage the topwall of the guide member, substantially as described.

28. A railroad system of the character described comprising a pluralityof frame members associated to constitute a car-way therewithin, crossties connecting the lower ends of the frame members together, and a railwithin the frame on said cross ties, in combination with a guide adaptedto be engaged by a suitable coperating device on the car, said guidecomprising an inverted U-shaped member, and said device comprisingoppositely disposed yieldable arms carried by a standard, contactdevices carried by said arms adapted to engage the opposite walls of theguide-way, and a yieldable means interposed between said arms forforcing the same outwardly, substantially as described.

29. A railroad system of the character described comprising a pluralityof frame members associated to constitute a car-way ,therewithim crossties connecting the lower ends of the frame members together, anda railwithin the frame on said cross ties, 1n combination with a guide adaptedto be engaged by a suitable cooperating device on the car, said guidecomprising an inverted U-shaped member, and said device 'comprisingoppositely disposed yieldable arms carried by a standard, contactdevlces carried by said arms adapted to engage the opposite walls of theguideway and a shock absorber interposed between said arms. p y Intestimon whereof I affix my signature in presence ot two witnesses.

THOMAS CAR-L SPELLING. Witnesses: i

MORRIS BnRKowiTz, HARRY C. DAVIS.

